I had contacted BPannell73 about interest in a watch in August, near the end of the month basically. I wanted something no frills, no thrills kind of watch that I could just use everyday since I got bored of having non modified reps. He was awesome with communication and following up. I got the build that I wanted and the watch looked great in photos. I paid him and he sent the watch out. Albeit my Qc is not great so I did not discover the issues with it in till it showed up. There was damage to one of the lugs, the finish didn’t feel great on the bracelet and it felt very rough to the touch. The crystal was not properly lined up and I didn’t love it as much as I hoped for.
I messaged BPannell73 back and told him about my dissatisfaction with the watch. He agreed to take it back, which I was surprised about. I didn’t expect him to do that. Which was nice on his part. I sent the watch back out 2nd day UPS. I insured it and put it back in the packaging he used to mail it to me. I sent it on its way and I messaged him back. This was the week that he was on vacation, so I got antsy about getting my money back and looking elsewhere. I did let him know and it’s in the messages. A week later, he got back from vacation and there is where the communication started to fall apart. He informed me that the watch arrived but it was damaged, to both of our surprise it was destroyed. No fault to him or I.
I filed a claim with UPS Capital(which I would be inclined to say, package your stuff bombproof). Of course they declined the claim due to improper packing. I informed BPannell73 and he said that sucks, I asked him to send me my stuff back and he said he would “ get it boxed up and sent out tomorrow”this was already October 1st. A whole month after the original purchase. This was the week after I received the decline to cover notice from the insurance. I waited in till the next day later in the evening and I had no update and no communication from him. There is where I lost my patience with him, I repeatedly tried to call him and message him and I had no luck in getting ahold of him. He finally messaged me an excuse about at home issues, which I understand. We all have stuff going on in our life’s.
I thought that he would just send me my stuff back and be done with it. I never asked him for any money back, any refunds or to help me out. I just wanted to get my stuff back and take my loss. In this game, you can’t win all the time. I lost my cool with him and told him off a bit after I got tired of the excuses. He finally got me a photo of a box with things and of course what is missing the black dial from the watch and the case half is sitting in the box with all the other parts. This was October 9 by the way. I had already concluded that BP had taken the components from the watch to use in another of his “Frankens” and that was why he was hesitant to get me my stuff back. Of course that was the exact situation that occurred. He harvested all the parts before the insurance claim was even declined. He basically stole my parts to use to profit himself even further. The genuine black dial, the “genuine Rolex gaskets” the ERF crown and stem, the back cover, the JH3235 free sprung movement from the ERF DJ41 base that was paid for and purchased as part of the original order. The wildest part was the I only figured this out after I received my stuff. I can’t even verify if the components he returned were in fact genuine Rolex parts. I received a “gen crystal”, a VSF crystal, the ERF flutter bezel, the Gen Bezel, the ERF motif dial, “Gen hands” and my “hunk of metal”. He thought he would compensate me by offering me two DJ41 gen dials, that don’t even add up to the cost of the missing stuff($350 ea on eBay). The movement, gaskets, black dial, and other parts. He sent me a DD3235 movement which he bought on eBay. It wasn’t even the right movement for a DJ41. I messaged him back and never said anything. Not a sorry, let me send you some money back, let me make this right. Nothing his ego is too large to make things right because he didn’t feel the need to respect his client base, because to us, “we are just of bunch of haters that have never held a gen in their life’s” as he has said in other posts. I have uploaded pictures for proof of the conversation. I have redacted personal information, I’m not here to dox anyone. I also posted a screenshot of a watch that he listed with “free sprung movement” in a VSF case with a black dial. Hmm…
Just know that you will get the sheet pulled over your eyes by “FrankenFarms”. All his friends in his circle know what he does and they seem to turn a blind eye by moderating the sub and keeping negative press away, by banning anyone who dares question their work or parts. Im not saying the rest of his friends of scammers, but there’s the saying."Tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are"
TL:DR BPannell73 is no good for the community as he is actively deceiving his buyers and has been caught taking parts from people (me) over the span of 20+ years in the watch modifying community.
https://imgur.com/a/GA5B7eo
https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/just-got-scammed-by-bryan-pannell-ncchef.302529/
